The present invention relates to the art of fast food serving trays and in particular to a fast food serving tray having the shape of a ship or a boat. The invention is also concerned with a cardboard blank from which the fast food serving tray can be made.
The fast food serving industry is a highly competitive field in which successful promotion may have a decisive role in the economic performance of the particular outlet. The design of fast food serving trays belong to important promotional items to be considered in this industry. In general terms, a fast food serving tray has to accommodate a container with a hamburger or the like, such container being usually made of a plastic material and being of a rectangular or square plan. Furthermore, a cup of soft drink and a cup of coffee, together with a package of French fries belong to the usual items served on one order.
Many attempts have been made to provide fast food serving trays made from a carton blank and having the shape of a ship or a boat. It is known that such shape is attractive to customers, particularly when its exposed sides and top are suitably provided with printed ornamentation.
Many design patents have been issued for such trays. Among these design patents, the following prior art references should be mentioned: U.S. Pat. No. Des. 199,205 issued Sept. 22, 1964 (Prestigiacomo); U.S. Pat. No. Des. 164,077 issued Jul. 24, 1951 to J. J. Wendell; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 88,269 issued Nov. 8, 1932 to E. E. Taylor, the last mentioned reference being concerned with a combined tray and receptacle for toilet preparations; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 24,452 issued Jul. 2, 1895 to E. Saalbach; and, finally, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 209,628 issued Dec. 19, 1967 to R. E. Burnsworth, relating to an egg carton.
In order to meet all practical requirements, a fast food serving tray has not only to be attractive in appearance but has also to have several other features to which belongs an easy storage before the use, relatively low production cost of the tray and an easy assembly for the serving purpose.
The attractiveness of the boat or ship-shaped serving tray has been proven. However, the known serving trays of this shape and produced from a cardboard blank suffer from the disadvantage of a very complex blank which requires a complex tooling for the production. Furthermore, the known fast food serving trays made from a foldable blank are relatively complex to assemble. Thus, the attractive appearance is achieved at the expense of high cost and difficult assembly of the tray into an operative state.
Many drawbacks of the above prior art have been overcome in a fast food serving tray of the present applicant, as described and claimed in my co-pending patent application, Ser. No. 569,770, filed Jan. 10, 1984, and entitled "FAST FOOD SERVING TRAY". I have now discovered that the sturdiness of the tray described in the above co-pending application can be significantly improved without impairing the ease and speed of bringing the respective blank from a generally flat state to a fully erected state ready for receiving the items of fast food to be served.